Dr. Vassilis L. Syrmos is the Vice President for Research and Innovation at the University of Hawai‘i System.  As the vice president, he provides critical leadership and coordination of systemwide research and innovation efforts, including management and direction of UH’s research support, technology transfer and many compliance functions. 

Dr. Syrmos previously served as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Research at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa.  Since 1991, he has been with the department of electrical engineering at UH Mānoa, where he is a professor.  He has also served as the Associate Dean of the UH Mānoa College of Engineering, and spent a sabbatical leave at The Boeing Company as a research fellow. 

Dr. Syrmos is the author/coauthor of more than 100 journals and conference papers and the book Optimal Control, 2nd edition, John Wiley, 1995.  He is also the associate editor of Circuits, Systems and Signal Processing.

Dr. Syrmos has served in numerous international conferences on technical program committees, editorial boards, and organizing committees.  His research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Office of Naval Research, the Naval Air Systems Command, the Naval Sea Systems Command, the Air Force Research Labs at Wright Patterson, the Army Research Labs, The Boeing Company, Hawaiian Electric Company and Hamamatsu Photonics.

Dr. Syrmos previously served as a consultant for the Canada France Hawai‘i Telescope (CFHT), Innovative Solutions (Nova-Sol), Science Technology International (STI) and others.  He is a Boeing AD Welliver Fellow, a member of the Sigma Xi research organization, and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

He currently serves as a board member of the Research Corporation of the University of Hawai‘i (RCUH), Pacific International Center of High Technology Research (PICHTR), Hawai‘i Technology Development Corporation (HTDC), Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai‘i Authority (NELHA), O‘ahu Economic Development Board (OEDB), Military Affairs Council (MAC), and Chamber of Commerce Hawai‘i.

Dr. Syrmos obtained his PhD at Georgia Institute of Technology in electrical engineering and a diploma in electrical engineering from Democritus University of Thrace, Greece.